Effect of acute coronary syndrome patients’ education on adherence to dual antiplatelet therapy

PURPOSE: To assess the effect of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients’ education on their adherence to dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) and on lifestyle modifications. METHODS: Patients who were prescribed acetyl salicylic acid and clopidogrel DAPT within 15 days of having an ACS event were enrolled in this study. Patients were randomized into two arms: the first arm received the study intervention, which consisted of education on coronary artery disease and the importance of sustained platelet inhibition, whereas the second arm was the control group. Both arms received education on lifestyle modifications. Patients completed six visits over 1 year. At each visit, pill count was used to assess adherence to DAPT, data on lifestyle modifications were collected, and changes in weight and waist circumference were recorded. Cardiovascular risk factors were recorded at baseline and the occurrence of new events was monitored throughout the study. RESULTS: There were 153 patients in Arm 1 and 168 in Arm 2. At Month 6, 99.3% of patients in Arm 1 were adherent compared with 94.4% in Arm 2 (p = 0.016). At Month 12, 303 (94.4%) patients from the overall population were adherent to DAPT and there was no significant difference between the two arms (p = 0.443). In addition, no statistically significant difference was found in mean change in weight (3 kg vs. 2 kg, p = 0.064) or mean change in waist circumference (3.5 cm vs. 2.6 cm, p = 0.071) between the two arms. There was a significant decrease in the percentage of smokers (p < 0.001) and a significant increase in the percentage of physically active patients (p < 0.001) within each arm between baseline and Month 12, but the percent change in smokers (z = 1.72, p = 0.085) and percent change in physically active patients (z = 0.76, p = 0.447) between the two arms were not significantly different. Fourteen myocardial infarctions and two strokes occurred throughout the study period. CONCLUSION: Patient education on DAPT showed short-term effect on adherence to treatment. More effective education methods should be developed to improve long-term DAPT adherence.